1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus and a method for manufacturing a copper-base alloy having a quite uniform chemical composition.
2. Prior Art
In manufacturing a copper-base alloy, there has conventionally been employed a batch process, in which solute metals are alloyed with copper in a melting furnace.
The batch process, however, has been disadvantageous in that every time the kinds of copper-base alloys to be manufactured are changed, the inside of the melting furnace has to be washed. As a result, a large quantity of a melt has been required for washing, and it is laborious to carry out such washing. In addition, inasmuch as the intermittent operation deteriorates the rate of operation of the melting furnace, the productivity has been lowered, resulting in a high production cost. Besides, since the solute constituents are difficult to be mixed uniformly with copper, the alloy thus produced has not complied with a desired quality.